Home Electronics Projects

The word ‘Lifehack’ is now firmly ensconced in the Oxford English Dictionary. While many lifehacks are simple tips or techniques, others involve channelling that strain of invention and innovation we at JPR love and encourage.

Many of the kits we offer are squarely aimed at teaching children in schools to embrace technology and innovation, and we love to see the results of it!

Kits are all well and good when someone’s already put designs in place for what you need, but in the age of hackspaces we often see home engineers and inventors devising solutions of their own to problems.

You might already have encountered the Pi-Rex, a brilliant idea from Dave Hunt that uses a Raspberry Pi to detect a dog barking and open the door. As Dave himself notes, for many purposes a timer would be just as good – but that wouldn’t have given him the satisfaction of completing the project. If your device needs similar computing power, remember our Pi cases when you brainstorm your parts list.

Another great idea from the internet using an Arduino and some quick work is this TV Volume Guard; by hooking an Arduino Uno up to your screen you can set the volume to automatically drop whenever the sound in whatever you’re watching spikes above a certain threshold. Movie fans in particular will benefit from this one!

Something absolutely spectacular – and a great way to entertain your kids – is this engineering project from students at Cornell University for Home Made Laser Tag.

The hacks we’re seeing run the gamut, from homemade security devices through to attempts to reconstruct antique wonders like the Antikythera Mechanism by keen gadget gurus.

With such variety out there, we’re always keen to hear about others – and to see what uses our stock is put to.

For example, we offer two variations of the MeArm Robotic Arm Kit, the Maker edition and the Deluxe. Both are designed to integrate easily with Arduino and Raspberry Pi systems, and the Deluxe also comes with its own joystick for control.

The intent of the MeArm is to present a reasonably priced option for anyone who needs or wants a robotic arm which can be used for almost any purpose; manufacturers MeArm even offer a guide to hacking its Brain Board on their site.